Films You Should Have Seen #1

Prologue
So the other day I was talking to a colleague at work about a currently TV series (Elementary) and told him the name of the actor who stars in it (Jonny Lee Miller). He didn't recognise the name so I took the universal next step in this situation and named a film that he was in. Now when thinking of Jonny Lee Miller the first film that comes to my mind is of course Hackers, (same for Angelina Jolie). However I was aghast to find that not only had my colleague not seen the film, he hadn't even heard of it. I then asked a couple of colleagues around us and they too disappointed me by not having heard of it.

Now to be honest I am something of a film fanatic and love watching a lot of different types of films. So maybe the fact that I have seen something that other people may not have, shouldn't surprise me (though it constantly does). I have therefore come to the conclusion that it is my duty to educate you less fortunate beings, so you may too enjoy some of the film industries lesser known gems.

I will therefore be publishing at least one monthly post on a film I believe you should have seen but may not have. You are Welcome.

So let us begin with the film that started this process.

Hacker
Year: 1995
Directed by: Iain Softley
Starring: Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Fisher Stevens, Matthew Lillard, Lorraine Bracco
IMDB Plot Summary: A young boy is arrested by the US Secret Service for writing a computer virus and is banned from using a computer until his 18th birthday. Years later, he and his new-found friends discover a plot to unleash a dangerous computer virus, but they must use their computer skills to find the evidence while being pursued by the Secret Service and the evil computer genius behind the virus.
Why it is worth watching: OK the plot summary hardly does the film justice. Yes that is basically what happens in the film, however this film is one where the style over the substance is what makes it so fantastic. 

OK I work in IT and I understand that the way the film depicts hackers and hacking is utterly ridiculous, gloriously ridiculous, so ridiculous in fact that it becomes sublime. They depict the internal workings of servers as city grids and building, with running process seeming to be vehicles moving along the grids at super fast speeds, and hacking process as breaking into one of those building. 

The hackers themselves are depicted as these uber-cool sexy rebels all colourful hair and colourful latex. Speaking in meaningless slang, inhabiting a world of computer games and techno music. The then young cast (one of Jolie's first film roles), play the parts with a frenetic energy and elusive coolness that all young know-it-alls posses.

Speaking of the music, the soundtrack is a whose who of mid nineties Techno, Trance and Electronica, with bands such as Leftfield, The Prodigy, Underworld and Orbital providing the perfect mood for this over the top romp.

This film is a brilliant reminder of the positive attitude prevalent at the time. When a film like this could be made by people with little knowledge of the main subject and still make something showy and fun.

Anyway there you are, go watch it this film

What Every Geek Has Done Before

OK Ladies and Gentlemen, Girls and Boys and everyone and everything in between. Let me warn you straight off, the nerd factor on this post will be set to warp factor 9.8, yes this post is about Star Trek. Before I begin I think I should provide the non geeky amongst you with some information, I will be using the following abbreviations

TOS = The Original Series (The one with Kirk and Spock)
TNG = The Next Generation (The one with Picard)
DS9 = Deep Space Nine (The one aboard the space station)

Anyway while watching the trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness, (looks excellent, can't wait), I remembered something that me and my friends used to do years ago. We would try and come up with the ultimate Star Trek crew from the crews of the TV series, (at the time there were only 3 TOS, TNG and DS9). To be honest with me at the time it would end up with the crew of TNG with Spock and Dr. Bashir thrown in for variety.

Anyway I decide to try this again especially as there are two new crews to pick from Voyager and Enterprise, (though I really really dislike Voyager). In order to makes sure that we again didn't end up with the crew of TNG with Spock and Dr. Bashir like usual, I set up some rules. Please feel free to to create your own ideal crews following my rules, it's extremely nerdy and very relaxing, (once you are done).

The Rules
1) Only members of crews from the TV Series are to be picked from, all other media, (films, books, games etc.) are not valid.

2) You must use at least 1 person from each of the TV series crews.

3) You must fill certain roles. After researching the roles that were on most of the shows were:

          Commanding Officer/Captain (Archer,  Kirk,  Picard,  Sisko,  Janeway)
          Second in Command (T'Pol,  Spock,  Riker,  Nerys,  Chakotay)
          Chief Medical Officer (Phlox,  McCoy,  Crusher,  Bashir,  The EMH Doctor)
          Chief Engineer (Tucker,  Scott,  La Forge,  Torres)
          Chief Operations Officer (Data,  O'Brien,  Kim)
          Chief Science Officer (T'Pol,  Spock,  J. Dax,  Wildman)
          Communications Officer (Sato,  Uhura)
          Tactical\Security Chief (Reed,  Worf,  Odo,  Tuvok)
          Helmsman (Mayweather,  Sulu,  Crusher,  Paris)

4) Those amongst you with the tendency to do so will have noticed that there are 9 positions to fill currently. For some reason, (possibly just a general disposition towards decimalisation), I would prefer to have a tenth member of the crew. So I researched some more to see what other positions showed up with the main crews of the shows and came up with the following list, from which you will pick only 1:

          Nurse (Chapel,  Kes)
          Counsellor (Troi,  E. Dax)
          Navigator (Chekov)
          Astrometrics (Seven of Nine)
          Stewards (Daniels,  Rand,  Guinan,  Quark,  Neelix)

5) Only designated positions are allowed. You can not assign someone to a role that they are not listed under, (I.e. you can not make Data the second in command, or make Seven of Nine into a nurse (as much as we would like to see her in a nurses uniform)) 

6) Each member of your crew can only be assigned to one position. Some are listed under multiple roles, this is due to the fact that the fulfilled multiple roles during there series, (I.e. Spock and were both the Second in Command (First Officer) and the Science Officer aboard their respective Enterprises). However you can only pick someone once. 

7) Finally you must also pick a ship for your crew. I had thought about allowing you to pick any ship from the Star Trek universe, (I mean who doesn't think the Klingon Bird of Preys are fucking awesome). However in order to make this more interesting I am limiting it to Star Fleet ships only as the crew will consist of Star fleet personal mainly. If you have the time, interest, inclination you can check up on this list to pick your ship. 

OK I can tell that you are all chomping at the bits to know my picks for the ideal Star Trek Crew. So here you go

My Ideal Star Trek Crew

Commanding Officer/Captain: Jean-Luc Picard
This one should be obvious. Picard is the most experienced, balanced and the coolest captain, (sorry Kirk). Even has a battle maneuver named after him.
Second Choice: James Tiberius Kirk

Second in Command: Spock
Lots of experience as a number 2 and with taking command in his captains absence. Highly intelligent with a fantastic ability to adapt to any situation.
Second Choice: Kira Nerys

Chief Medical Officer: Julian Subatoi Bashir
Genetically engineered to be smarter and stronger then the average human. Also has the advantage of being the least annoying Doctor in Star Trek.
Second Choice: The EMH Doctor

Chief Engineer: B'Elanna Torres
Not a conventional Star fleet engineer. However shows great ability to improvise to keep her ship running.
Second Choice: Geordi La Forge

Chief Operations Officer: Data
Possibly the most able member of the crew. Definitely the strongest and smartest, and countless abilities that make him a very valuable member of any crew.
Second Choice: Miles Edward O'Brien

Chief Science Officer: T'Pol
Highly intelligent, with the capacity to question the set beliefs of the Vulcan Science council when presented with evidence that contradicts them. 
Second Choice: Jadzia Dax 

Communications Officer: Hoshi Sato
Has a natural ability with languages, which make her extremely useful should the universal translators ever fail.
Second Choice: Nyota Uhura 

Tactical\Security Chief: Worf
It's Fucking Worf! A natural warrior, He has vast experience facing off against both the Borg and the Dominion.
Second Choice: Malcolm Reed

Helmsman: Hikaru Sulu
Experienced and able helmsmen, and extremely handy with a sword
Second Choice: Wesley Crusher 

Tenth Crewman: Seven of Nine (Astrometrics)
Yes she is smart and has a lot of combat experience from her time with the Borg, however to be honest I just wanted 2 extremely attractive women in cat suits in my crew.

Second Choice: Christine Chapel (Nurse)

Ship: USS Defiant (NX-74205)
I just seem to have a thing for ships that are stripped down to the bare necessities. The Defiant can take a knock and keep on going.
Second Choice: USS Prometheus (NX-59650)

OK so there you go. If you have anything to say (apart from accusing me of sexism) or better suggestions please leave a comment

My Top Ten Films of 2012

My New Year Resolution is to try and write at least 3 blogs a month (you lucky lucky people). I usually publish a top ten of my films of the year at my scarcely updated website. However as I am now writing this blog I thought I would go into a little more detail here, and include some extras as well that I have heretofore not done. Please be aware there may be spoilers.

Notable mentions

These are the films which I really enjoyed and were the closest to being in my Top Ten:

Argo – This is a very good suspenseful thriller with excellent performances from all the cast. A bit of a letdown for me because it changed a lot details from it source material, which I had read before watching the film.

Lincoln – a great film with a lot of power house performances (just give Daniel Day Lewis the Oscar right now). The film also introduced me to a lot of interesting historical figures I was unaware of before.

Prometheus – an excellently suspenseful science fiction film, which unfortunately suffers from its connections to the Alien franchise causing people to not see its own merits. I can’t wait for the sequel the further adventures of Elizabeth and David.

Seven Psychopaths – this has been unfairly compared to the writer/directors previous film the brilliant In Bruges. Though I prefer In Bruges this is still a smart, wicked funny character piece with Christopher Walken out Walkening himself.

The Bourne Legacy – I was dubious about there being a Bourne film without Jason Bourn in it, however setting this film parallel to the previous one and making Aaron Cross a different yet still engaging character made this thriller fit in seamlessly into the Bourne universe.

The Top Ten

10) The Dark Knight Rises

I was conflicted about this one as you will remember if you have read my earlier blog I love batman. So it was hard for me to put this so low on the list, in fact this nearly missed the top ten all together. However in the end what I liked about the film, the mood, the performances (Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy deserve a special mention) and Anne Hathaway in that catsuit, outweighs any issue I may have with plot holes.

9) Wreck-It-Ralph

Wreck-It-Ralph is something of a rarity. It is an animated film made completely for children without any nods or winks towards adult, (the exception being some of the older computer game characters), that parents can sit through and still have a great time with their younglings. It is a colourful mash up of heroes who are bad, and villains with hearts of gold, in a story about wanting to belong and fighting bullies with the odd poop joke thrown in.

8) Jesus Henry Christ

A small independent comedy that you may have missed (not the only one on this list), dealing with children who are more clever than their parents, parents on the edge and finding out in the end that being yourself and loving your family no matter how weird they are will get you through almost anything. With brilliant performances from the all the cast this is one you should try and catch.

7) The Dark Knight Returns Part 1

As disappointed as I was with The Dark Knight Rises, this straight to DVD animated Batman film was a wonderful surprise. Following closely the first two issue of The Dark Knight Returns comic book series, it succeeds in bring to the screen both the darkness and despair of a Gotham City without the Caped Crusader and the obsessive desire and need for Bruce Wayne to wear the cowl. Part Two is released at the end of this month.

6) Skyfall

James Bond is back and with a bang. After the less then great Quantum of Solace we get Daniel Craig back to his best as a slightly older and even more world weary secret agent. This being the 50^th anniversary of Bond on film we had hoped for something special and Sam Mendes delivers just that. With tonnes of references to the history of bond, an excellent opening song, in my opinion the best Bond villain so far and the action turned to just right this is one of the best Bond films ever.

5) Safety Not Guaranteed

This is another small independent comedy, this time with a very slight science fiction edge to it. The thing that makes this one of my top five films of the year are the performances especially by the always wonderfully deadpan Aubrey Plaza and the “Yes I find him strangely charming in this, however I don’t know why” Mark Duplass, (very different to his character in The League). This film is definitely one to catch if you can.

4) Moonrise Kingdom

So Wes Anderson makes another offbeat comedy, full of quirky characters, a bright colour palette and starring Bill Murray. I would tell him to stop and try something new if he wasn’t fantastic at it and didn’t produce such wonderful films. Moonrise Kingdom may star big names like Bruce Willis, Edward Norton the aforementioned Bill Murray and Francis McDormand, however it is the child actors that make this film not just the two leads but also the scout troop full of psychopaths, who are just delightful.

3) The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey

Let me just state from the start this is my favourite so far of all the Peter Jackson Middle Earth films. I liked the Lord of the Rings Trilogy well enough, however I find when watching them at home I tend to skip past all the Frodo scenes in the last two films. I don’t think it will be the same with Bilbo and this film. Martin Freeman brings a charm and depth to Bilbo that Frodo lacked. I know that The Hobbit is a lighter book then the Lord of the Rings, but that makes this more enjoyable for me. Bring on Smaug and the Five Armies.

2) The Avengers

Being a huge comic book fan this should be on the top of my list and if it wasn’t for the eventual winner this would be. The culmination of 5 years and 5 other films, this was fan boys wet dream of a film, finally we get a superhero team up film that didn’t suck. The now crowned king of all the geeks and nerd Joss Whedon did a fantastic job in bringing a giant yet intimate story to the screen and also making people want a Mark Ruffalo starring Incredible Hulk film.

1) Cloud Atlas

Being the misanthropic loner that I am what probably attracted me most to this film is the idea about the interconnectivity of everyone and everything. Six seemingly unrelated stories from six different time periods shown in bits and pieces, this may not be for everyone however I found it fascinating. Actors were playing multiple parts (sometimes different sexes or races) and in most instances the performances were brilliant. Special mention should go to Ben Whitshaw as Robert Frobisher, Jim Broadbent as Timothy Cavendish and the most excellent Doona Bae as Sonmi 451. The films central messages of how ideas, deeds and words echo through time makes one sit back and think. With a most excellent score by co-director Tom Tykwer I left this film feeling wonderful and slightly hopeful for some reason. Hopefully you will do the same.

And as an added bonus my worst film of the year for 2012

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

If I’m honest I wasn’t a huge fan of the original Ghost Rider film. It’s not a comic character I have read much of. Also the film wasn’t very good. So when I heard that a sequel was being made I didn’t have high hopes. This film did something surprising though it failed to reach anywhere near my extremely low expectations. This film basically drags out the Ghost Rider character and pisses fire all over it, (if you have seen this film you will get the reference). As I have mentioned before I love comic books and this film makes me want less comic book films to be made that’s how bad it is. Hopefully every single person (with the exception of Idris Elba) who had anything to do with this film will stay away from comic books and comic book films from now on.